Rule-based access control

Anonymous Reader writes "Although Web servers can perform user authentication and coarse-grained authorization checking for applications, developers of server-based applications often must write custom code to restrict access to certain features of their system, or customize the behavior or appearance, based on the identity of a user. Embedding authorization checking within an application is inflexible, prone to error, and increases its complexity. What if authorization checking were data-driven instead of implemented by program logic? By reusing an authorization framework, scripts and compiled programs can be smaller, simpler, and more secure, and application development time and effort can be reduced."